Onwards (and back!) to Mount Desert Island

Every is very excited to head back at Mount Desert Island again.  Our trip here two years ago was fantastic and we felt that in many ways we barely scratched the surface of all there is to see and do in this area.

Deciding how and when to go to MDI depended on a lot factors, including the weather, our state of provisioning and the boat’s tanks (holding tanks for waste, and water), and what me might want to see along the way, and our plans to rendevous with my parents later in the week.  Ultimately we decided that with dodgy weather coming on Wednesday and downright lousy weather projected Thursday it might be a good idea just to get there, as we could provision in Bar Harbor once we’d arrived.  This would also give us some time to scout a few things out such as where to park my parents car and maybe deal with a few chores such as laundry.  Laundry can be an all day affair when you live on a boat.

So Tuesday night we brought up the boats and made ready for an early departure with a quick stop by the Castine Town Dock on the to pump out our holding tanks and take on water.  We’d picked out several “bail out” harbors along the way in case the weather got bad.  The morning came and it was clear, cool, gorgeous and without a breath of wind.  We quickly finished our final preparations and weighed anchor for the town dock.

When I pulled in to the town dock I told the attendant “We’re here to get a pumpout and take on water.”  He pointed out the water source and we attached our own hose as he readied the pumpout.  As he was finishing the pumpout I told him I’d be here for a few minutes more as we hadn’t topped our water tanks yet.

“Oh,” he said, “that’s not potable water.”

I apologized for my language after I quickly yanked the house out of the filling port.  What it came down to is that the Powers That Be decided this year the water was “non potable”.  It was the same water source as the other dock and it was “potable” last year, but because the hose was used to help in flushing out the pumpout dock the whole thing was considered unsafe.  Well, we’d used our own hose so I really didn’t think this was a seriously thing, but we decided discretion was the better part of valor and we should at least empty out our water tanks and give it a quick flush.  The only way to get the water out of the boat is to open up all the faucets, and our water pump is rated for five (5) gallons per minute, maximum in perfect conditions.  With 270 gallon tanks, well you can do the math and figure out how long we were sitting there on the docks draining the tanks.  The boat got a nice bath though and we got some fresh baked snacks from Bah’s Bakery up the road so it wasn’t a total loss.

Slow forward two hours, and by 11:00 we had our water filled up, and we headed out some two hours later than we’d hoped.   We really, really didn’t want to travel at night because there are so many lobster pots around here it is just hellish to picture doing that so we got a bit nervous about our ability to make it to MDI before dark.  The only real upsides to the delay at the docks were that while we were waiting the tidal currents were moving in our favor and most importantly a nice fresh breeze picked up.  As soon as we left Castine harbor we set our sails and started beating South for Deer Island Thoroughfare.  Seals and porpoises and pretty boats…you get the picture!

The sailing was beautiful – nice breezes (albeit upwind much of the way) and warm weather and sunny skies.  While passing through the Deer Island Thoroughfare we did turn the engine on as the wind was blanketed and it is really…narrow…with a ton of lobster pots mined all throughout the passage.  As we left the thoroughfare and entered the pot-infested waters of Jericho Bat we caught some nice breeze and our upwind sailing was over.

Of all the places in Maine we’ve visited to date, Jericho Bay has the most impressive number of lobster pots, period.  The picture to the right serves to highlight a few important things about this area we were sailing through.  First, the beautiful schooner in the fog – Maine is filled with gorgeous boats from the smallest dinghy to the magnificent schooners and windjammers you see everywhere.  Second…look at all the lobster pots.  Holy mackerel there are a lot of them – in some places so close together I wasn’t sure I could get Evenstar between them.  We ran over a few, but we were sailing which isn’t so risky – but it is aggravating and challenging.  Third, did you notice the fog around that Schooner?  Yeah, there was some fog coming in.

Fortunately we didn’t catch the fog on Jericho Bay.  After picking our way through another narrow rock & lobster pot infested pass (the “York Narrows” onto the “Casco Passage”) we were on the final stretch of water before MDI.  We could see it in the distance.  It looked…odd…with fog over one end of it and piled on the islands south of it.  The Bass Harbor Bar and the Bass Harbor Light were quite enshrouded in fog and it was between us and where we were headed.  The wind was dying and our boat speed was dropping, and we’d just passed our last bailout point, so it was time to motor again in earnest.

Fog envelopes Bass Harbor Head Light like The Blob.

The fog was low to the water, and very dense with visibility less than 100 yards.  But it was a thin layer – we could see blue sky over our heads.  Shreds of mist were passing through the cockpit as the sun shown down on us.  It was very beautiful and eerie from the outside.  Blinding cool and a little spooky once we sailed into it.

As we passed South of MDI we could see land, but it faded out in the fog as we pressed on.  Lobster Pot watch became a bit more challenging as cross currents were pulling on us.  Fortunately few people were on the water as we saw very few contacts on the radar.

As we approached Southwest Harbor about 6:00 p.m. the fog finally thinned out a bit and we could see again.  The fog still lay think around the island though in some interesting patterns.

As we passed Southwest Harbor and reached our anchorage we breathed a bit of happy relief that the fog gave out and we were able to find a safe place to stay as the day faded.  Further adventures await on the island!

The fog rolls back in as the sun sets on our anchorage – photo by Will Porter.